Sub-Saharan Africa

Over half of the organizations that use open data in this region are nonprofits and developer groups. A third are in the governance sector. The majority are SMEs.

Open data is supporting good-government initiatives across Sub-Saharan Africa. It’s being used to improve budget transparency in Nigeria, for electoral monitoring in Malawi and Ghana, to improve urban planning in South Africa, and to provide information about schools and water resources in Kenya. Other sectors with high use of open data also include agriculture, education, IT and geospatial. Many are using open data to provide information on public services and empower local communities. The majority of the organizations, both nonprofit and for-profit are in low to lower-middle income countries.

The most used types of data in this region include demographic and social, agriculture, health and health data, as well as data on government operations such as budgets, contracts and spending. Organizations use this data to develop mobile and web applications that enhance access to information on social and government services, and to provide businesses with market and environmental information.

FarmLogs provides farmers with a free software and mobile application to map and analyze crop yields and environmental conditions for crop growth through government data. Their Farmlogs free Standard includes several features: Field Mapping, Scouting and Notes, Activity Tracking, Rainfall Tracking, GDD Accumulation, Soil Composition Maps, Growth Stage Analysis, Yield Maps, Input Planning. They also empower farmers to coordinate with the government to request data for their lands. On their website, FarmLogs details instructions on how to contact the US Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency for field boundary data. Upon receipt, FarmLogs interprets the data and creates field boundaries on mapping systems for farmers to demarcate their lands.